When I read about this it made me feel ill.February 13, 2001 12:32 AMSubscribe

When I read about this it made me feel ill. "Life as a human punching bag." A man in Japan is deeply in debt, and rather than filing for bankrupcy he is raising money by letting people try to hit him for a thousand yen per minute. He defends himself but does not hit back.posted by Steven Den Beste (19 comments total)

He's a former professional boxer; this isn't such a change.posted by pracowity at 1:16 AM on February 13, 2001

Ugh. Poor bastard is roughly $127K in debt, and he's earning $8.50 per minute of whoopass. Sounds like it may be time to go to plan B.posted by Optamystic at 1:24 AM on February 13, 2001

I think he should just kill one of the people paying him $8.50 and assume their identity. Nobody will miss anyone who'd pay money to hit a poor guy. A rich guy though, I can understand.posted by frenetic at 1:28 AM on February 13, 2001

I mean he could file for bankruptcy - but he wants to pay people back; good character.

He's a boxer - he knows how to defend himself. "Defensive tactics of boxing" probably includes pushing someone back when being punched and maintaining distance. The only serious thing is the broken ribs - many professions do this though. I'm rather impressed by the lad.

Optamystic: remember to subtract profits from his book.

Frenetic: Chip on your shoulder?posted by holloway at 2:24 AM on February 13, 2001

Why are people paying money to hit some guy? Are the japanese completely insane, cause all I ever see of their culture is tentacle rape and that guy who jumps out at people and screams.posted by Doug at 6:28 AM on February 13, 2001

Guess they haven't picked up on our FIGHT CLUBS.posted by ojsbuddy at 7:18 AM on February 13, 2001

Yes, the Japanese are completely insane.posted by sudama at 7:41 AM on February 13, 2001

Bah, we're all of us just crazy gaijin.posted by darukaru at 8:25 AM on February 13, 2001

One look at "Jackass" might dispel any notion of relative cultural insanity. (Shamefaced aside: I've only seen one episode of "Jackass." It made me laugh really hard. Then I went and boiled myself.)posted by Skot at 8:57 AM on February 13, 2001

Does this sorta turn anyone else on a little? Just a little?posted by johnnydark at 9:21 AM on February 13, 2001

Um...I know I'm going to be sorry I asked this...but what is
"tentacle rape"?posted by rushmc at 12:45 PM on February 13, 2001

rushmc -- do a search. You'll find some soon enough.
"Tentacle hentai"
I thought it sounded funny when I first heard of it, but instead it depressed me.posted by sonofsamiam at 1:19 PM on February 13, 2001

Guys, just to head off this whole "tentacle rape" thing off at the pass--

There's a lot of sexually-oriented manga and anime (comics -n- cartoons for us gaijin) in Japan. However, there are some rules that cartoonists have to follow to get their material out there. One is, no depiction of male genitalia penetrating a woman.

So, to get around that rule, a small subgenre of explicit manga and anime developed, featuring demonic characters with tentacle-like appendages used to engage in penetration during sex (usually rape) scenes.

Two of the best known examples that have made it to the U.S. are Wicked City and La Blue Girl.

But here's the thing: this is a relatively tiny corner of Japanese manga and anime. And the Japanese are puzzled that tentacle hentai material is 'popular' over here. After all, we don't have the rules against showing penetration that they have. So as far as the Japanese are concerned, we're the weird ones in this equation.

As far as I can tell, tentacle hentai is as unrepresentative of Japanese entertainment as, say, "Mistress Bambi's Wet -n- Wild Ponygirl Enema Palace" would be compared to all of U.S. entertainment.posted by wiremommy at 2:22 PM on February 13, 2001

This thread certainly took an unexpected turn.posted by Skot at 3:01 PM on February 13, 2001

Ya know what, that explains a lot, Wiremommy. I never knew that. Still weird that censors will accept tentacle rape and not penis-sex. But I believe they also can't show pubic hair in Japan, no? Different taboos, I suppose.posted by Doug at 3:01 PM on February 13, 2001

The reason so many Japanese comics are explicit to begin with is that the most familiar form of pornography (i.e. dirty photographs) is not permitted at all.posted by kindall at 4:03 PM on February 13, 2001

Not quite true, kindall. No penetration shots/close-ups of genitals can be done, but basically anything else can...

The Japanese porn industry is huge, which is amazing when you consider that it is completely soft-core...posted by Neb at 4:26 PM on February 13, 2001

I was going by what a guy told me who was in Tokyo last month; he claims there are signs saying pornography is contraband at the airport.posted by kindall at 5:42 PM on February 13, 2001

That is true. If there the pornography has any showing of vagina or penis, they'll take it away.

A friend of mine had an airline lose a suitcase when he was traveling to Japan. A couple weeks later, he received the suitcase and a letter saying that a few magazines had been confiscated because they were considered "material that could corrupt the youth of Japan". The embarrassing thing was, he had to have his Japanese secretary translate it for him.posted by Neb at 6:48 PM on February 13, 2001

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